connor



(No Model.)

M. H. CONNOR. LEATHER STAKING MACHINE.

Patented June 7, 1898.

\X/ITNESSEEI NITED STATES i PATENT OFFICE.

"MICHAEL H. CONNOR, OF I-IAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS, TO ELIZABETH T. CONNOR, OF SAME PLACE.

ZLEATHER-STAK ING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 605,272, dated June 7,1898.

Application filed September 27, 1897. Serial No. 653,100. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MICHAEL H. CONNOR, of I'Iaverhill, in the county ofEssex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Leather-Staking Machines, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to leather-staking machines employing two jawswhich operate on opposite-sides of a hide, skin, or piece of leather insuch a manner as to stretch, scrape, and soften the same. The skin isheld at one end by an operator, and the jaws are reciprocated in unisonand are closed upon the skin, so as to exert a scraping and stretchingaction thereon during their backward movement away from the operator andopened to release the skin when moving in the opposite direction. Thejaws are reciprocated by means of a pitman-rod connected with arevolving fly-wheel mounted on a drive-shaft.

The opening and closing operation of'the jaws has heretofore beenaccomplished by means of a cam located on the drive-shaft, the said camoperating upon a rocker-arm which is connected with suitable mechanismfor opening and closing the j aws. WVhen the machine is running, theoperation of the cam and its connections creates a great deal of noiseand vibration, and the mechanism is open to the further objections thatit absorbs an undue amount of power and is unnecessarily complicated.

It is the object of my present invention to provide a leatherstakingmachine which shall be simple in construction and which shall be freefrom the above-mentioned objectionable qualities of existing machines.

It is also the'object of my invention to provide a mechanism for openingand closing the jaws of a leather-staking machine which can be appliedto machines of existing pattern with only slight alterations ofstructure.

With these objects in view the invention consists in the novel featuresof construction and arrangement which I shall now proceed to describeand claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis application, in-which-- mounted to travel in suitable grooves onsaid guideway. The slide (1 is reciprocatedl by means of a pitman-rod e,connected with a fly-wheel f, which is mounted on a drive shaft f.

' g and g designate the two jaws, which operate on the skin, the upperjaw g being securely affixed to the slide cl and the lowerj aw 9 beingpivotally connected to the upper jaw at g A spring it connects the rearends of the two jaws and tends to hold their forward or working endsapart. -On the under sideof the pitman a, near the end which is pivotedto the slide (1, is aflixed a roll 2', which bears against acontact-plate or chafing-plate 76, arranged on the upper side of thelower jaw g. When the roll a presses downwardly on the chafing-platelathe forward end of the lower jaw. g moves in the direction of theupper jaw g, and when said roll ceases to press downwardly on thechafing-plate the spring 7t causes said lower jaw to move in theopposite direction, so as to separate the two jaws attheir forward ends.The necessary move ment of the roll is imparted by the pitman e in itstransverse travel when the fly-wheel f revolves in the direction of thearrow as, Fig. 1. The chafing-plate is pivoted at its rear end is to ametal plate or fitting 9 to which the lower jaw is secured, and isprovided with an adj ustin g-screw 79 which screws through the plate 9and bears on the underside of the chafing-plate. Instead of making thecon tact portion of the chafing-plate k'flat or of such a shape as toproduce an abrupt contact between it and the roll on the pitman I preferto produce a cam effect at the place of contact by providing thechafing-plate with a projection 75, which forms an inclined abutment forthe roll to press against, as seen in Fig. 1.

The forward end of the upper jaw g is provided with a roll j andpolishing-blade m, and the lower jaw is provided with a blade 0, forremoving wrinkles from the skin, and a scraping-blade n. The skin ispresen'tedto the action of the jaws by an operator standing at the endof the table I), who grasps the skin by its margin, and also holds it inplace between his body and the edge of the table, so

as to withstand the drawing action of the jaws.

The devices at the ends of the jaws for acting on the skin form no partof my invention and may be of any approved construction.

By means of my invention I have provided a simple, cheap, light-running,and comparatively noiseless leather-staking machine, and have at thesame time furnished a mechanism which can be applied to machines alreadyin use of the general type illustrated in my drawings without makingextensive alterations in structure.

By altering machines of the present type to accord with my invention agreat saving will be effected in the power required to run each machine,a large number of parts will be dispensed with, and the machines willrun with less noise and vibration than formerly.

It is evident that various details of the abovedescribed constructionmay be altered without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim- In a leather-staking machine having an inclined guideway and aninclined, operatingtable, the combination with the pivotally-connectedworking jaws and the slide rigidly secured to the upper jaw, andoperating in the guideway,of a pitman-rod pivotally connected with theslide, a roll carried bysaid pitmanrod, a contact-plate pivotallyconnected to the lower jaw and having an abutment provided with aconcave inclined side against which said roll bears, and means foradjust in g said contact-plate to regulate the pressure of the jaws uponthe work.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in thepresence of two subscribing Witnesses, this 21st day of September, A. D.1897.

- MICHAEL H. CONNOR.

Witnesses:

ALEXANDER YOUNG, THOMAS F. BOUGH.

